Murray showed no signs of the thigh injury that had previously troubled him as he Zverev in the punishing Perth heat at the Hopman Cup on Friday. PHOTO: AFP
The British pairing of Andy Murray and Heather Watson won their respective singles matches against Alexander Zverev and Sabine Lisicki to secure the tie.
Although the mixed doubles was a dead rubber, the couple also needed a win to enhance their chances of reaching Saturday’s final.
They did so in style, winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to complete a clean sweep of the tie.
Hopman Cup: Serena withdraws with swollen knee
With two wins from their three round-robin outings, Great Britain still needed unbeaten Australia Green to lose their final tie against France on Friday evening.
Regardless of that outcome, Murray said the Hopman Cup had provided an ideal launching pad for his upcoming Australian Open campaign in Melbourne later this month.
Murray was too good for the emerging Zverev, despite being broken when he initially served for the second set, winning 6-3, 6-4 for two victories from his three singles matches in Perth.
His one defeat was to mercurial local Nick Kyrgios.
Hopman Cup: Australia’s Kyrgios tunes up for Murray
“I obviously have things to practice on and try to improve, [but] I am fairly pleased with how I played,” said Murray.
Watson showed she would be a dangerous opponent in Melbourne with her second win in succession, against Lisicki.
Ranked 32 in the world, the German had three break points at 0-40 when Watson served for the match in the second set, but the world number 55 claimed the final five points in succession to complete a 6-3, 6-4 win.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2016.
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